Verizon Wirless May Reduce Cancellation Fees on Cell Phone Contracts

Have You Ever Had to Escape Your Cell Phone Contract?

Cell phone contracts are the dull and sometimes deal-breaking side to scoring a new, exciting phone when you want to change carriers or phones. I've heard from a lot of people who would buy an iPhone, for example, but are stuck in a contract and don't want to deal with an expensive fee to jump ship.

Verizon Wireless is considering reducing these early cancellation charges, amidst complaints of customers and Congress, which is, obviously, a step in the right direction (and a big source of relief for cell phone users!). I've never had to get out of a contract though, and am glad for being able to avoid that hassle. But what about you?

I want to switch. I have Verizon right now, but my roommate is a manager for AT&T and can get me better offers. Also, I think Verizon's customer service is terrible, their site is difficult to navigate and their selection of phone is meager. I'm ready for a change....

I would love - LOVE - an iPhone. BUT, I will not move from Verizon. They have by far the best service in my area. I have tried Sprint and T-Mobile and I dropped calls constantly. I almost never drop a call with my Verizon phone. Apple and AT&T should stop their monopolistic grappling and realize that everyone has the right to enjoy these phones.

I have Sprint and I LOVE it. My only problem is how long I have to wait to get a deal on a new phone, because I'm itching for a Blackberry and i want to upgrade my plan to their new all inclusive... but my phone right now isn't built for internet. Sooo... I hate to wait until November. Meh.

hubby and i switched from verizon to tmobile after they switched our plan without telling us... took of our texting plans randomly and other crap.
tmobile is HALF the price, with TWICE the features (data plans yay)!

hubby and i switched from verizon to tmobile after they switched our plan without telling us... took of our texting plans randomly and other crap. tmobile is HALF the price, with TWICE the features (data plans yay)!

AT&T was the WORST customer experience I ever had from ANY business EVER, cellphone or not. I'd rather have nothing than to ever go back to them again. In fact, they were my first cellphone carrier and after being with them, I stayed away from cellphones completely for many years after that because I was that nervous I would be screwed again. It really blows my mind that people actually like AT&T - but who knows? Maybe they made a special effort to straighten up their act with all of the new devout iPhone customers.
Verizon has been pretty decent to me. They suck in the way that all cellphone companies suck, but other than that, they're ok. I really like that I can call other Verizon customers without it contributing to my minutes. Also, I remember one time after the hurricanes knocked out all the towers down here in So.Fla, Verizon was the only service to come right back up, while the rest didn't restore service until a week or so later.

twice actually. for some reason I really disliked their service so I broke that contract. tried to weasel out of paying the early termination fee but that didn't work. went to verizon. was happy. then I found out their turned down apple's new iphone when asked if they wanted to be the exclusive carrier of the new (and revolutionary) phone but verizon turned them down because they didn't want to change their voicemail system. thanksgiving after the iphone came out my fiance said he wanted one so we kicked verizon to the curb, again couldn't weasel our way out of those early termination fees so the iphone ended up costing $575 instead of just $400 (;
whee! oh the things we do for technology and great design. damn you apple. damn you and your beautiful iphone.
we love you.

twice actually. for some reason I really disliked their service so I broke that contract. tried to weasel out of paying the early termination fee but that didn't work. went to verizon. was happy. then I found out their turned down apple's new iphone when asked if they wanted to be the exclusive carrier of the new (and revolutionary) phone but verizon turned them down because they didn't want to change their voicemail system. thanksgiving after the iphone came out my fiance said he wanted one so we kicked verizon to the curb, again couldn't weasel our way out of those early termination fees so the iphone ended up costing $575 instead of just $400 (; whee! oh the things we do for technology and great design. damn you apple. damn you and your beautiful iphone.we love you.

I haven't, but I want to! I don't really like Verizon and I have my eye on the Sidekick (or an iPhone) for college since my LG Chocolate is really beaten up. What sucks is that Verizon is the only carrier that gets decent reception in my city.

i had tmobile for four or five years until i switched for an iphone. i didn't want to leave since i liked the customer service and i didn't like att. i waited until my contract was up though before i switched. now that i have att it's not so bad except for them not sending me my bill and then i'm late paying it. grrrr

i had cingular and have hated att. i'm only staying because of the iphone! it makes me angry that i have to restart my contract when i want to get a new phone at the sale price. i hate that if it's only been a year i get stuck renewing for two more years but only get the 1-year contract price instead of the better 2-year contract price. and i hate their data packages. overall, they suck and i would rather just buy whatever phone i want and pick whatever plan i want.

I have..from Verizon as a matter of fact.
Although they have some nice phones (I really loved the chocolates & the new Samsung Glyde), I don't find them internationally friendly. At least - not enough to fit my needs :p So I switched to AT&T. It was worth the cancellation free, I couldn't be happier with it :)

I have..from Verizon as a matter of fact. Although they have some nice phones (I really loved the chocolates & the new Samsung Glyde), I don't find them internationally friendly. At least - not enough to fit my needs :p So I switched to AT&T. It was worth the cancellation free, I couldn't be happier with it :)

I bought my phone about 5 years ago. There was a rebate of about $150 for signing up on a contract, but it had to be mailed in. The calling plan ended up being about $10 higher than I expected, with taxes and connection fees and everything. I was also hit with $30 for data transfer for downloading 2 games and 2 ringtones... at $50/MB. The contract said "web access included" but made no mention of the data fee, so I assumed it was actually, you know... included.
The final straw was when they refused to honour the rebate, because it expired after a month and I sent it in too late. (I didn't read the fine print, I guess.)
Anyway, I was stuck in that contract for 2 years. I tried to get out, but no luck. THE DAY it expired, I called and got out. I'm still with the same company, but on prepaid... at $12.50/month instead of $46.00.
I'd rather pay the full price of the phone up front. It would have cost me hundreds less over that two years to just pay for the phone and go on prepaid right away.
I'm now trying to figure out what prepaid data plans are like...

I bought my phone about 5 years ago. There was a rebate of about $150 for signing up on a contract, but it had to be mailed in. The calling plan ended up being about $10 higher than I expected, with taxes and connection fees and everything. I was also hit with $30 for data transfer for downloading 2 games and 2 ringtones... at $50/MB. The contract said "web access included" but made no mention of the data fee, so I assumed it was actually, you know... included.The final straw was when they refused to honour the rebate, because it expired after a month and I sent it in too late. (I didn't read the fine print, I guess.)Anyway, I was stuck in that contract for 2 years. I tried to get out, but no luck. THE DAY it expired, I called and got out. I'm still with the same company, but on prepaid... at $12.50/month instead of $46.00.I'd rather pay the full price of the phone up front. It would have cost me hundreds less over that two years to just pay for the phone and go on prepaid right away.I'm now trying to figure out what prepaid data plans are like...

I paid an early termination fee to get away from Verizon in 2003. Since then, I've mostly stuck to pre-paid plans. I'm currently on AT&T's pay as you go with my iPhone. If/when it suck too much, I'll unlock it and go to T-Mobile.

I did it years ago and paid the $150 to escape. At the time I needed to go to t-mobile for their international coverage. When I jumped to AT&T my contract had been up for a year. If it wasn't up I would have paid the $150 or whatever to break it as my minutes and data plan were $40 less a month with my iPhone.

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